Samsung’s Tizen-based smartwatches are what has brought the company some success, but Android was what first filled that role. Now, though, the 2013-released Samsung Galaxy Gear is about to lose access to apps if it’s still running Android.
Expand Expanding Close
Albeit still not as popular as smartphones, smartwatches are indeed making their way to the market as gadgets with ever increased functionalities — like the recently announced CoWatch and its Amazon Alexa integration — but at the same time trying to appeal to classic timepiece customers as well.
Samsung is an OEM trying to please both audiences: according to The Korea Herald, Swiss watchmaker de Grisogono has confirmed to be working with the consumer electronics giant again in order to bring to the market a luxury version of the yet-to-be-announced Gear S3, supposedly coming next March…
An infographic posted by Samsung claims there are more than a thousand apps for its Galaxy Gear smartwatches (actually, it claims “more than a thousand of Gear Apps,” but we’ll gloss over that).
The number is presumably aimed at people like me, who still look at smartwatches in a somewhat bemused fashion, viewing them as a solution in search of a problem. “Look at all the things they can do,” is the message here.
I don’t doubt the number, but quantity of apps doesn’t tell us much about their usefulness – and when Samsung chooses to lead its top five recommended apps with one that measures how much water we’re drinking, I have to say that does nothing to persuade me that the devices are so far little more than a novelty …
Samsung and Apple will largely own the smartwatch market between them, predicts Jackdaw Research chief analyst Jan Dawson in a report being issued later today and seen by Re/code.
Dawson said that new players should “stay out of the market,” and existing players should scale back their plans.
“We do not recommend that existing vendors should maintain current levels of investment when market growth and the overall revenue opportunity remain poor,” Dawson said. “It is unlikely that more than one or two small vendors will be able to make a sustainable business out of smartwatches in the face of competition from Samsung and […] Apple” …
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOIGUfAlMY0]
Samsung’s description of a nine-minute video as a ‘quick look’ at the Gear 2 and Gear Fit smartwatches may be about as accurate as its claim that they are everything users “loved” about the original Gear, but if you want to know everything the watches do and how to do it in full detail, this video is your friend.
The Galaxy S5 video (below the fold) is a little shorter, at a touch under eight minutes …
Expand
Expanding
Close
Samsung’s entry into the world of wearable tech may not have been terribly successful, with dreadful reviews and reportedly poor sales, but the company seems undeterred, promising more wearables this year, reports re/code.
“2014 is actually going to be a really big year,” said Dennis Miloseski, head of studio for Samsung Design America. “We are planning some products around the launch of our flagship devices.”
Samsung’s US design team does appear aware that the company needs to work a lot harder on the aesthetics as well as the functionality …
Expand
Expanding
Close
With a reporting yesterday indicating that Samsung’s Galaxy Gear smartwatch had “flopped” with only 50,000 units sold, the manufacturing giant is refuting that report. However, even as Samsung speaks to the media regarding the Galaxy Gear as a successful product, there is some confusion about whether or not the company has “shipped” or “sold” 800,000 units …
The Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch reviews are out, and that red glow you see on the horizon is from the blushing faces at Samsung, visible all the way from Korea. The reviews are not, to put it kindly, overwhelming in their enthusiasm for the device.
A smartwatch the Galaxy Gear is not. Frankly, I’m not sure exactly what it’s supposed to be. Samsung describes it as a companion device, and the Gear is indeed chronically dependent on an umbilical link to another Samsung device, but it never left me feeling like it was a helpful companion. The notifications are Orwellian, the media controls are exiguous, and the app selection has no substance to underpin the hype. Samsung’s attempt to turn the Gear into a style icon is also unlikely to succeed, owing to the company’s indecision about its target demographic. Trying to please all tastes has resulted in a predictably charmless and soulless product.
The Gear’s camera and phone calls are both surprising and delightful, but they’re unfortunately isolated highlights. When all is said and done, I expect the Galaxy Gear will be looked back upon as a rough first draft that helped the Korean chaebol steer a better course en route to the goal of producing a real smartwatch. As it stands today, though — unintuitive, oversized, overpriced, and in constant need of a Galaxy guardian — the Galaxy Gear might have been better off staying on the drawing board …
Expand
Expanding
Close
GigaOM has confirmed suspicions that the leaked photos of the Galaxy Gear smart watch were indeed of a prototype device made available to developers. The actual device being launched on Wednesday will be a much more finished product.
Battery-life was also added to the things we now know about the watch.
- High quality OLED displays will show the full spectrum of colors.
- The display will be around 2.5 inches diagonally (and 3 inches diagonally including the case.)
- It will be powered by a dual core processor, probably a Samsung Exynos 4212 dual core 1.5GHz with Mali-400 MP4 GPU.
- It has a camera and a microphone integrated into the strap and even tiny speakers.
- It has Built in NFC and Bluetooth 4.0 LE
- The Gear is powered by Android 4.3, with keyboard featured turned off.
- The device won’t have a browser and will need the phone to tether to the Internet.
- It will need a Samsung device with a watch-focused app store to install apps on the watch.
- It has a built-in accelerometer and other sensors that will allow it to act has a quantified self device.
- Expect battery power to be 24 hours with modest use, but around 10 hours with more active usage …
Expand
Expanding
Close
